Short movies lend themselves to developing an understanding of how the cogs work together. In this Primary 4 writing example, it shows how the development of vocabulary using the 5-cog model worksheet can support and embellish imaginative and personal writing.

As learners watched a movie called ‘Baboon on the Moon’ (Screening Shorts on Glow) they jotted down notes on their 5-cog note board worksheet. As a class they shared their ideas to make a bank of words that they would plan to use in their own piece of writing. These words were recorded on the starter pack dry wipe cards on the board and displayed on the classroom Emotion Works word wall to refer to during writing.

During a writing planning session, pupils then had to create their own character that might feel the emotions the baboon felt on the moon, referring to the word lists they had previously created. They also created a place where they thought their character might feel isolated like the Baboon from the short movie. The word isolation provoked much discussion and the A4 5-cog model card was used to explore different times children might have felt like that. Using the structure of the story from Baboon on the Moon together with their word lists and 5-cog note sheet, the pupils wrote their own versions of the story. The success criteria set was that their writing had to include as much emotional vocabulary from the word banks as possible over the 5-cog model.